Category: Uncategorized

  • TURNING ON THE GREEN LIGHTS

    (Third part of the trilogy “Seeing Red” and “Orange or Purple Caps”) We stop at a traffic signal when the light is red. It then turns to amber (saffron), before the green light gives us the signal to move ahead. I have unwittingly followed this colour sequence in my trilogy on the bishops of U.P….

  • ORANGE OR PURPLE CAPS?

    (A sequel to “Seeing Red”) Those familiar with the ongoing Indian Premier League would know that the orange cap is worn by the batsman scoring the maximum runs, and the purple one is worn by the bowler who has taken the most wickets. They are the players in the field, performing under pressure. The umpires,…

  • WHY WAS MARY MISSING?

    Why was Mary missing from what Christians consider the most momentous event in salvation history and the most defining moment in human history – the Resurrection? Was it an oversight on the part of the four evangelists reporting the event? In my book “Beyond 2000” written for the third millennium of Christianity I had termed…

  • SEEING RED

    Last week the Prime Minister dramatically announced that red beacons would be removed from the cars of netas and babus. The gullible junta applauded. What the PM did not say was whether the hooters/ sirens on these vehicles and their escorts, with which they cut a swathe through dense traffic, would also be dispensed with….

  • LEGAL EAGLE

    Readers will pardon me for my penchant for birds (both varieties)! Post the State elections I wrote “The Dove and the Crow”, followed by “From Crow to Hawk”. Now I have climbed the evolutionary ladder to call this piece “Legal Eagle”. It does have a touch of the best seller “Where Eagles Dare”. Except that…

  • THE DOVE AND THE CROW

    The morning after the election results were out was chilly, not just because of the chilling results. A chill wind was indeed blowing, one that could bode ill for the country. The BJP’s electoral sweep in U.P. had chilled me to the bone, so I was trying to catch a little sun in the garden….

  • FROM CROW TO HAWK

    My earlier piece on the State elections was titled “”The Dove and the Crow”. This corollary is “From Crow to Hawk”. I had also thought of calling it “A Mandate Betrayed”, or “The Butchering of Democracy”. All three would fit the bill. I received an unprecedented response to my previous article under reference. Most respondents…

  • A VEILED THREAT

    Christian women could feel threatened by a recent article “Why Women Wear Veils in Church” written by one Susanna Spencer. It appeared in a pious journal published by a renowned pilgrim centre for hopeless cases. It was hopelessly off the mark, as I shall presently expound. Spencer claims that Christian women always covered their heads…

  • OFF THE MARK

    This title could mean two things (double entendre). Firstly, as in a race, it could mean that one was off the mark in a flash, as the starter called out, “On your marks, get set, go”. Secondly it could mean that one had gone off track or missed the mark. I mean both things –…

  • NINE ON TEN

    While writing about the Republic Day Parade (RDP) last year I said that I missed the rich timbered voice of Rini Simon-Khanna.  I had also hazarded a guess that this year the Chief Guest would be the Emir of Kuwait .  After watching this year’s RDP I got fiendish pleasure in being spot on last…